Sep 30, 2023

5 model years worth of Montgomery-Made Hyundai Vehicles Involved in Recall!

These are the Montgomery assembled Hyundai vehicles included in the recently announced recall 

...almost 778-Thousand in all. (story is below)

 

 777,145 (U.S.)model year 2011-2015 Hyundai Elantra vehicles

22,481 (U.S.)  model year 2013-2015 Hyundai Elantra Coupe vehicles

 

DETROIT (AP) — Hyundai and Kia are recalling nearly 3.4 million vehicles in the U.S. and telling owners to park them outside due to the risk of engine compartment fires.

The recalls cover multiple car and SUV models from the 2010 through 2019 model years including Hyundai’s Santa Fe SUV and Kia’s Sorrento SUV.

Documents posted Wednesday by the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration say the anti-lock brake control module can leak fluid and cause an electrical short, which can touch off a fire while the vehicles are parked or being driven.

The automakers are advising owners to park outdoors and away from structures until repairs are done.

Sep 29, 2023

Religious Actions

 Quetta, Pakistan — A suicide bomb blast struck a religious procession Friday in Pakistan's Balochistan province, killing more than 50 people and leaving scores more injured according to local officials. A senior Pakistani security official and a source in Baluchistan confirmed to CBS News' Sami Yousafzai that at least 52 people were dead, with about 50 more injured.

Pakistan Bombing

Thirty Years after Mercedes Announcement.

Washington Post headline/story:

MERCEDES PICKS ALABAMA AS PLANT SITE


Mercedes-Benz AG said yesterday it will build a $300 million assembly plant in Vance, Ala., ending six months of intense regional bidding for the German automaker's first U.S. passenger vehicle plant.


From The Washington Post story about Mercedes selecting Alabama for its first plant:

"We were very impressed with Alabama's very good secondary and primary school systems," said (Mercedes-Benz's chief engineer Dieter Zetsche, who led the site search) .

Zetsche, who also cited the state's university system and high literacy rate.

Really? Someone did a great sales job!!!

From Mercedes:

About Mercedes-Benz U.S. International, Inc. (MBUSI)

Mercedes-Benz announced in April 1993 that it would build its first passenger vehicle manufacturing facility in the United States. This decision emphasized the company’s globalization strategy and desire to move closer to its customers and markets. In September of 1993, after an extensive, six-month site selection process, the company chose Tuscaloosa County, Alabama, as the location for its $300 million plant. Mercedes-Benz U.S. International, Inc. (MBUSI) was formed to fulfill the goal of assembling the Mercedes-Benz M-Class Sport Utility Vehicle for the worldwide market.

Construction of the plant was completed in July 1996. Operations began in January 1997, and the first M-Class vehicles went on sale in the U.S. in September of that year.

MBUSI created a new corporate culture, based on teamwork and open communication. The combination of German & American team members, with experience from U.S. and Japanese automakers, as well as from Mercedes-Benz, made the “melting pot” in terms of its practices, procedures and corporate culture.

In 1993, original projections were for 65,000 M-Class vehicles to be assembled at the Tuscaloosa plant each year. Because of overwhelming demand, MBUSI invested an additional $80 million in 1998 and 1999 to expand the plant and increase annual output by 20% to 80,000.

Besides Body, Paint and Assembly shops, also located on the Tuscaloosa site are a comprehensive training facility, a visitor center, a childcare and a health and wellness center.

As a result of the worldwide success of the M-Class (now called the GLE), Mercedes-Benz has continually invested, expanded, and more than tripled operations at MBUSI.   We assemble the GLE, GLS, GLE Coupe, and the Mercedes-Maybach GLS for the world market. MBUSI also added the EQE SUV and EQS SUV in 2022. 

Roughly two-thirds of the components used in MBUSI-assembled vehicles, come from North American suppliers, with the remainder coming from suppliers all over the world. About 30 first- and second-tier suppliers are now located in Alabama.

We distribute to 135 markets worldwide with 60% for export.

THINGS YOU MIGHT WANT TO KNOW ABOUT MBUSI:

  • MBUSI has been located in Tuscaloosa County, Alabama since 1995
  • MBUSI is the first large Mercedes-Benz plant outside Germany
  • MBUSI is the first major automotive plant in the State of Alabama – serving as the catalyst for additional OEM, automotive suppliers, and supporting businesses to come to the area
  • MBUSI has more than 4,500 employees with an estimated additional 11,000 indirect jobs at suppliers and service providers in the region
  • MBUSI has, so far, invested more than $7 billion including $1 billion to start production of electric passenger cars, expand the plant’s logistics activities, and to build a battery factory
  • The MBUSI Consolidation Center started operating in 2019
  • Construction activities for the battery factory started at the end of 2018; the battery factory launched operations in 2022
  • MBUSI assembles the GLS, GLE, GLE Coupe and the Mercedes-Maybach GLS exclusively for the world market, MBUSI also added the EQE SUV and EQS SUV in 2022
  • MBUSI is the second largest automotive exporter in the U.S.
  • Around two thirds of our SUVs assembled at MBUSI are being exported to almost every country in the world
  • More than 4 million vehicles have been assembled since 1997
  • There are almost 200 U.S.-based suppliers with localization rate continually increasing.

 

 

 

Sep 28, 2023

October 5th Event

 

ELECTRIC BLUE YONDER

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 5 @ 7:00

TICKETS $20

(click below)


Electric Blue Yonder (EBY) returns to Montgomery to make their Capri Theatre debut after a national tour in support of their upcoming release, “Loved & Lost.” See the space folk explorers in an extended full band performance with special guests that will ensure this will be a night to remember. Join in their journey as they grow from grass roots to national level act from right here in Montgomery.



Haven't heard of Electric Blue Yonder?


A traveling troupe of intrepid space folk explorers, Electric Blue Yonder examine the mysteries of the universe and reports their findings through song. Described as “Real American Space Folk,” the band draws its inspiration from the psychedelic folk, surf, and cosmic country rock of the 60s and the Space Age prog/art rock explorations of the likes of David Bowie and Pink Floyd, all while shifting time to the early roots and parlor style guitar of the 20th century. The result is a genre bending mix that captures a nostalgic familiarity while simultaneously transporting you into uncharted territory.

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Last night's Trumpless Debate

From The Washington Post:

“Donald, I know you’re watching,” (Chris) Christie said. “You’re not here tonight — not because of polls and not because of your indictments — you’re not here tonight because you’re afraid of being on the stage and defending your record. You’re ducking these things.”

And thus he came up with another name for the front runner who wasn't there: Donald Duck.

How much is your home worth? $200,000?

 How about if it was owned by Trump instead of you...in light of the Trump corporate estimates for the value of their properties...

The Washington Post offers a guide:

"Here are your Trump-inflated values.

If we were to inflate the value to the extent that the value of Trump Tower was inflated, your $200,000 swells to $545,653, an increase of $345,653.

If we apply the level of inflation used for Mar-a-Lago, we get a range from $3,090,794 to $6,801,228. Even if we use the New York Post's generous assessment, the value was still inflated, lifting your $200,000 to $408,074.

If we use the level of inflation applied to the property at Seven Springs, your $200,000 becomes $1,940,000. Using the inflation applied to the property at 40 Wall Street, we get an inflated value ranging from $524,700 in 2011 to $272,370 in 2015.

Then there are the golf clubs. Inflating your $200,000 to the same degree as the inflation applied to the club at Briarcliff, your investment jumps to $890,063. The inflation used for the club in Los Angeles raises your $200,000 to $707,699."

 

Sep 27, 2023

 There are some great films coming up at The Capri Theatre in Montgomery, including Auroras Sunrise and Mean Girls!


 

 

 Look HERE for the theatre schedule, location & more!

Why OZARK Alabama will feel the shutdown the most!

 The Washington Post includes a story identifying places with the largest per-centage of federal workers as residents....and OZARK, Alabama is SEVENTH on the list, with 11.7% of the population employed by the Federal Government....2,232 people in all.

That's because the city is adjacent to Fort Novosel, formerly Ft. Rucker.

History of Fort Rucker – IAMAW Local Lodge 2003

The name was changed in April because Rucker was a confederate officer.

At The Capri Theatre!

 

STARTING NEXT WEEK

ALL TERROR TUESDAY SHOWS @ 7:00

October 3

MEAN GIRLS

Gotten over High School yet?

If not, come and see that you are not alone.


Kick off Terror Tuesdays with the most terrify thing on the planet - a pack of Mean Girls in their native environment


October 10:

THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS

Jack Skellington, the pumpkin king of Halloween Town, is bored with doing the same thing every year for Halloween. One day he stumbles into Christmas Town, and is so taken with the idea of Christmas that he tries to get the resident bats, ghouls, and goblins of Halloween Town to help him put on Christmas instead of Halloween -- but alas, they can't get it quite right.

October 17:

SCREAM

After a series of mysterious deaths befalls their small town, an offbeat group of friends led by Sydney Prescott, become the target of a masked killer. As the body count begins to rise, Sydney and her friends find themselves contemplating the "Rules" of horror films as they find themselves living in a real-life one.

October 24:

ALIEN

In space no one can hear you scream. In the theatre is a completely different matter.


October 31:

THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE

The Original! Five friends head out to rural Texas to visit the grave of a grandfather. On the way they stumble across what appears to be a deserted house, only to discover something sinister within. Something armed with a chainsaw.

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Tuberville''s latest comments

  “The people of Alabama ought to be embarrassed about that.”

                       Rep Jim Clyburn, a South Carolina (D)

                       re Tuberville's comments.

Wednesday


https://www.alabamapublichealth.gov/images/adph-seal-rgb.jpg

National Gay Men’s HIV/AIDS Awareness Day is observed each year on
September 27th to direct attention to the continuing and disproportionate
impact of HIV on gay and bisexual men in the United States. Men who reported
male-to-male sexual contact are the population most affected by HIV in the
United States. It is important for men who have sex with men to know their
HIV status and take medicine to treat HIV if they have the virus.
The Office of HIV Prevention and Care encourages everyone to get tested and
engage in education and prevention practices including the use of pre-
exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP).
For more information about HIV and free testing, visit
alabamapublichealth.gov/HIV. Follow Start Talking Alabama on Facebook,
Instagram, and Twitter, and download the Know. Manage. Live. app from the
Apple or Google Play stores.
Let’s stop HIV together. This message is brought to you by the Alabama
Department of Public Health and this station.

Sep 26, 2023

WE NEED RAIN!!!!!

 

The Alabama Forestry Commission issued the alert Friday because of dry and windy conditions that can increase the risk of fires spreading out of control.

In the last two weeks this month, the state has seen nearly 100 wildfires, consuming about 1,000 acres of land. That number is getting closer to the 127 wildfires the state saw all of last September, according to Balsie Butler, the Alabama Forestry Commission’s Protection Division Assistant Director.

“We’re well ahead of where we were this time last year,” Butler said.

Butler says this summer’s high temperatures and little rain recently have left the soil dry and the conditions right for wildfires.

“A lot of people see green grass and green leaves on the trees and think everything is OK but in reality, everything is really, really dry,” Butler said.

The Fire Alert restricts outdoor burning and makes it a class B misdemeanor to burn a field, grassland or woodland without a burn permit.

Butler says it’s best to hold off on any kind of burning until the state gets significant rainfall, at which point the alert would be lifted.

Until then, the commission is getting closer to requesting a drought declaration from the governor.

“Based on weather forecasts, we’re not anticipating a lot of precipitation in the future so we’re probably heading more toward a drought declaration,” Butler said. 

(above SOURCE: WIAT-TV, CBS in Birmingham) 

(below SOURCE: WAKA-TV, CBS in Montgomery)

African-American U.S. Air Force Official Demoted

 

 Students look up at the bottom of an aircraft.

 Air Force Lt. Col. Brian Milner speaks to middle school students about the B-1B Lancer at Maxwell Air Force base, Ala., May 12, 2022.

     Milner was fired a week ago from his position in Texas. The Military.com website reports:

The commander of an Air Force squadron at Dyess Air Force Base in Texas was fired this week, just two months into his new role, after officials lost faith in his abilities to lead.

That "loss of faith" term is frequently used in announcing a military demotion, with little or no information about the reason.

     A N.Y. Times article in 2020 proposed that race could be an impediment to rising African-American military officers.

"African-American officers said they had no room for error, and that episodes that had little consequence for their white counterparts ended careers for them."

 

The Capri Theatre Classics Classic\Film\Class starts this Wednesday, September 27, hostec by Film Historian John Martello at the Capri Theatre.


Each Wednesday from September 27 - November 15 a classic film will be introduced by Martello, who will then lead a deeper discussion after the screening.


Classes start at 6:30pm. Admission is $12 for Capri members and $15 for non-members. Or you can purchase the full course of eight classes for $80.

Click Images for individual show tickets. Or Click Here for the Full Class Package

September 27:

REAR WINDOW

(1954 Dir: Alfred Hitchcock Starring: James Stewart, Grace Kelly, Wendell Corey, Thelma Ritter 112mins)

Photographer L.B. Jeffries (James Stewart) is confined to a wheelchair with his leg in a cast. He spends his time in his Greenwich Village apartment looking out into the courtyard and into his neighbors’ apartments. His attention is piqued when one of his neighbors suddenly disappears. This film has become one of Hitchcock’s seminal works as well as one of his most entertaining.

John Martello has been an actor, director and producer for over 40 years.  As an actor, he has appeared in everything from Shakespeare to Sugar Babies and has given two acclaimed solo performances Off-Broadway in Damon Runyon’s Tales of Broadway (American Place Theater) and St. Nicholas by Conor McPherson (Irish Repertory Theater)


In 2001, he was the recipient of The Pirandello Medallion presented by The Pirandello Society of America to acknowledge his performing, producing and directing the work of Luigi Pirandello.

He also produced THE OLD MASTERS by Simon Gray starring Sam Waterston, Brian Murray and Shirley Knight at the Long Wharf Theater and, as Executive Director of The Players for 20 years, he produced hundreds of events including evenings honoring Jason Robards, Gregory Peck, Angela Lansbury, Peter O’Toole, Ben Gazzara, Christopher Plummer, Tony Bennett, Harry Belafonte, Carol Burnett, The Nicholas Brothers, Audra McDonald and dozens of other theatrical luminaries. He also served as Executive Director for the oldest experimental theater in America, The Living Theatre, under the leadership of founder Judith Malina.



He and his wife Maire moved to Montgomery in November of 2018 and from September, 2020 through August, 2023, he taught “The Art of Film” at The Armory.

October 4: STEAMBOAT BILL, JR

(1928 Dir: Charles Reisner, Buster Keaton Starring: Buster Keaton, Tom McGuire, Ernest Torrence 70mins)

In celebration of Buster Keaton’s birthday, we will screen his last independent film before joining MGM. Buster is a college boy who is meeting his father for the first time in his life. Dad is a gruff steamboat captain who is greatly disappointed in his effete milquetoast of a son…but mother nature has a way of changing that.



After the film, we will be joined for a discussion on Keaton, via Zoom, by James Curtis, the author of the acclaimed biography BUSTER KEATON, A FILMMAKER’S LIFE.

October 11: DOG DAY AFTERNOON

(1975 Dir: Sidney Lumet Starring: Al Pacino, John Cazale, Penolope Allen 125mins)

On a very hot August afternoon, Sonny (Al Pacino) and his friend Sal (John Cazale) try to rob a bank in Brooklyn. Things go wrong from the start and the inept crooks find themselves and their hostages forced to deal with the FBI and the media. One of the great NYC movies, it is directed by the legendary NYC director, Sidney Lumet, and has one of Al Pacino’s most acclaimed performances.

October 18: SINGIN' IN THE RAIN

(1952 Dir: Sanley Donen, Gene Kelly Starring: Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor 103mins)

Sure! You’ve seen this movie at home and on tv, but you haven’t really seen it if it was not on the movie screen and with an audience. Often included on critic’s polls as one of the 10 Best Films of All Time, this may very well be the greatest film about movie making. Even the acerbic critic, Pauline Kael, called it: “Just about the best Hollywood musical of all time.” 

October 25: THE RUNNER

(1984 Dir: Amir Naderi Starring: Madjid Niroumand, Abbas Nazeti, Musa Torkizadeh 94mins)

Alabama Premiere!!  This is the story of Amiro, an illiterate, but resourceful, 11-year-old orphan who lives alone on an abandoned tanker in an Iranian port city. He survives by shining shoes, selling water and diving for deposit bottles. He finds comfort by running…seemingly to nowhere. Influenced by the films of Italian Neo-Realism and works such as Bunuel’s LOS OLVIDADOS and Truffaut’s THE 400 BLOWS, director Amir Naderi was also inspired by his own childhood. This was shown in Venice and London in 1984 but was not released in the US until 1991. It is among the films that brought the world’s attention to the New Iranian Cinema. Rediscovered by Bruce Goldstein, founder of Rialto Pictures, it was restored with new subtitles and opened in the fall of 2022 to exceptional reviews.


After the film, we will be joined, via Zoom, by Bruce Goldstein and Madjid Niroumand who plays the role of Amiro for a discussion of the film and a Q&A with the audience.

November 1: TOUCHEZ PAS AU GRISBI

(1954 Dir: Jacques Becker Starring: Jean Gabin, RenĂ© Dary, Dora Doll 96mins)

In this French noir, translated as “Don’t Touch the Loot,” international film legend Jean Gabin is Max, an aging, world-weary gangster who is double-crossed and forced out of retirement thanks to Josy (Jeanne Moreau) and bad guy Lino Ventura (in his debut.) “Grisbi contains…genre elements – double-crossings, kidnappings, gun battles and the like – but its also a pensive meditation on age, friendship, and lost opportunities. This film was highly influential…” (Philip Kemp, Criterion)

November 8: THE LADY EVE

(1941 Dir: Preston Sturges Starring: Henry Fonda, Barbara Stanwyck 94mins)

When the nerdy heir to a brewery fortune (Henry Fonda) boards a ship heading home after spending a year up the Amazon collecting snakes, he meets up with a trio of card sharks. The woman in the trio (Barbara Stanwyck) and the snake collector fall for each other and, as they say, complications ensue in one of the most audacious of romantic comedies. With a gathering of members of the Sturges Stock Company, this film has been called a great example of “the screwball comedy.”

November 15: CARMEN JONES

(1954 Dir: Otto Preminger Starring: Harry Belafonte, Dorothy Dandridge, Pearl Bailey 105mins)

This film was hailed as a milestone in musical cinema when released and when Dorothy Dandridge became the first African American actress to receive an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress for her sultry performance as Carmen Jones. She is perfectly matched by the recently departed singer, actor and activist, Harry Belafonte. The film is based on the successful Broadway production written by Oscar Hammerstein II and adapted from the great Bizet opera CARMEN. The film was hailed upon its opening for “showcasing the talents of African American performers who were denied opportunities in Hollywood.”


After the film, we will be joined for a discussion and a Q&A, in person, by film historian Foster Hirsch, author of numerous books on the cinema and theater. They include his acclaimed biography of Otto Preminger and a new work which will be published this fall by Knopf: HOLLYWOOD and the MOVIES of the FIFTIES.

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